This invention relates to an armature machine of the general type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,627,379 and 3,103,737 and which is used for automatically winding a succession of armatures each having a slotted armature core and a commutator mounted on a shaft. In association with such a machine, various types of mechanisms have been either used or proposed for successively loading a series of unwound armatures from a supply source to the winding station located between a pair of opposing wire forming heads or chucks. There has also been various mechanisms for unloading each armature from the winding station after the armature core is wound with a predetermined number of wire coils.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,397, which issued to the assignee of the present invention, discloses a vertically movable carriage which grips the projecting shaft of each unwound armature and transfers the armature downwardly between the opposing armature chucks after the chucks are retracted to provide sufficient clearance. After each armature is wound, the outwardly projecting end portion of the armature shaft is gripped by an unloading mechanism which retracts the wound armature axially from the winding station and transfers the wound armature to a conveyor or the like.
It is also known to sue an armature shaft gripping mechanism which includes a member adapted to grip each wound armature shaft at the winding station, to retract the armature from the winding station and then swing 180.degree. on a vertical axis to transfer the wound armature to a conveyor or transfer chute. An unwound armature is positioned in line for pick up by the gripping member when it returns 180.degree. to a position aligned axially with the unwound armature.